5118. RB to William Wetmore Story & Emelyn Story
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 30, 132–133.
Ste Marie, near Pornic.
Oct. 1. ’62
Address (Paris) 151. Rue de Grenelle,
Faubourg St Germain.
Dearest Friends,
We leave this place to-morrow, hope to be in Paris by Friday night, & in London, say, a week after that. If we could meet once or twice more before you go away, it would be pleasant indeed: I rather fancy we may, supposing that friends will continue to snatch at you, & that Chapman & his printers will not be more miraculously expeditious than usual. [1] Anyhow, I rejoice heartily in the sale of the statues [2] —a good, comfortable fact, freeing you from any back-thoughts & bother: William has a clear way before him & may do what he pleases: I see from here the complacent curl in my friend the Tuscan’s fat cheek & mouth,—he of the Studio,—& that nice sympathetic Helper (I forget both their names, for the moment)—it will delight him also. [3] All of which I shall not see, but it will do William good, and I expect the fruits in many a fine & true thing to come.
These last news from the North are admirable & consolatory: [4] & I think, by such poor glimmer of light as comes to me, that the Italian news is far from discouraging– [5] I go away with a sort of beginning of joy chimes in my ears. At all events, I go away with Pen in prodigious force: he has taken his fifty-first good swim in the sea,—is brick-coloured and broad-shouldered: he wants to see you all, as you may suppose—you & Edie.
If I get a word before I leave Paris—on your receiving this—I shall know what I am to expect on arriving in London: I might lose some days by waiting to enquire about you till I arrive: and, according to the promise of your letter, I may extend or curtail my stay in Paris, by a day or two: remember that the “season,” for publishing, is terribly early in October:—Forster writes to me that he will not let the little collection of my things, [6] which has been printed & ready more than two months ago, appear before “the middle of November at very earliest.” Of course you can’t wait till then, & I understand little about the ways to such successes.
We are glad indeed to hear that the Boys are so flourishing: Pen’s love to them & to you goes with mine, you know—& the best regards of my father & sister–
Ever yours affectionately
Robert Browning.
Publication: BAF, pp. 111–112.
Manuscript: Pierpont Morgan Library.
1. Referring to Story’s forthcoming Roba di Roma (see letter 5111, note 8).
3. Perhaps one of these was Pietro Boncinelli (see letter 5013, note 15).
4. RB may have read the first accounts of the Battle of Antietam, which took place on 17 September near the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. Although a limited victory for Gen. George B. McClellan and the Army of the Potomac, it proved that Gen. Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia were not invincible. The Daily News of 29 September 1862 carried a dispatch from New York, dated 18 September: “The latest news received states that the result of the battle of the 17th was decidedly in favor of the Federals, but another battle was necessary to determine definitely who shall finally be the victor. The carnage is reported to be very great” (p. 5). The Battle of Antietam or the Battle of Sharpsburg, as it is known in the South, was the bloodiest day of fighting in the Civil War, with over 20,000 casualties.
5. Presumably, RB refers to the skirmish at Aspromonte in the far southwest corner of Italy, where on 29 August 1862 Garibaldi and his volunteers were stopped in their march on Rome by Italian army regulars under the command of Gen. Enrico Cialdini. Although “few shots were exchanged, seven soldiers and five volunteers were killed, and Garibaldi himself was wounded in the ankle and taken prisoner” (Edgar Holt, Risorgimento: The Making of Italy, 1815–1870, 1970, p. 278). Sarianna Browning reported to Joseph Milsand that RB was delighted by this news, “as showing the strength of the Italian government” (see SD2600).
6. Selections (1863); see letter 5040, note 10.
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